Sword Art Online: Crimson Durendal
by macklth
Summary: Two players called Alm and Epona didn't know each other in real life but worked together to try and clear Aincrad. Despite their best efforts to survive this death game in the end even the best players die. First fanfic.
1. Prologue - Alm and Epona

**Authors Notes: Hey all, I'd like to point out before you start reading that this is my first fanfic. I'm not entirely sure if this writing style is a good one or not and I'm not too confident when it comes to first person narrative but I'd like to hear what you all think and hopefully I can improve in later chapters. My knowledge of Sword Art Online only comes from the anime and wiki page so I think I'm bound to make mistakes, if I make some please point them out.**

The dungeon seemed to go on forever, the endless stone cold walls twisting at every turn convinced me that there was no way out of this labyrinth. I eyed the lit torches on the walls, they were the only source of light inside this maze. I continued walking even further into the dungeon alone, I had recently disbanded my party with a friend who complained that she was tired. I didn't want to stop her from leaving but I wanted to continue until I had fully mapped out the area, although it was far more dangerous to be in a dungeon alone.

A bright ray of blue light appeared suddenly in front of me, this could only mean one thing a monster was about to spawn. I took a step backwards and raised my hand to grasp the hilt of my sword in the sheath on my back, I bit my lip as the light faded away and a suit of black armour wielding a grey sword stood in front of me. The armour didn't seem to have anyone inside, it was just floating by itself. It raised the sword above its helmet as I drew my sword in response, a cold sweat raced down my brow as the armour raced towards me with its sword raised.

"Haaa!"

I clenched my sword tightly with both hands raising the crimson blade above my head to block the oncoming strike, a suit of armour swung it's sword down towards me and clashed swords with mine. The force of the blow was stronger than I had anticipated which caused my sword to give way, my arms gave up from the pressure and dropped down to my waist while I stared at the sword coming towards me, it pierced in between my neck and shoulder.

The enemy I was fighting against was definitely strong, much stronger than other enemies on this floor. It was called _Demonic__Armour_, a ghost like entity that possessed a suit of armour so it could fight against players. It was one of the many spirit monsters within this haunted castle themed dungeon. This particular monster was three levels above normal, usually they're level 74 and don't pose much of a threat in a group or solo if you're the right level.

"Gah"

I scrunched up my face as I saw my hit points in the left corner of my eye, my health had started to drop. I had only lost 5 percent of health at most from that strike but it was enough to make me panic, if I continued to underestimate this enemy it would get the drop on me and I'd surely die, not to mention I was still losing health because its blade was inside my body. I had become too confident in my abilities and this was the obvious punishment one would get when underestimating this death game.

The ghost in armour growled in my face, I hadn't noticed before but monsters smell, the slight breeze behind me kept the monsters stench in my face was making me nauseous. My eyes started to water as I regained my grip on my weapon and swung my sword back up at the blade that was cutting me, the two swords clashed again causing tiny sparks to flicker. My blade force and expelled its sword from my body, I stopped losing health as soon as it came out, I was actually more relieved that I didn't have to smell its breath anymore. A bright red pixel like scar was left from where I had been struck, I glared as the _Demonic Armour_ as it began to charge at me again, I stood ready for the next attack.

"Switch!"

A familiar voice sounded behind me. Switch? The player in the forward position was the one who usually gave the orders to change position but this order was from the other member in my party who had left recently, she came back? I eyed my hit points and noticed thanks to the damage I received I had only 40 percent of my health left. No, only 40 percent of my life was left. The _Demonic Armour's_ sword came swinging towards me as I swiftly stepped back avoiding the attack, it lost its balance after lunging towards me hopping ever so closer.

My two handed long sword started to glow bright blue as I crouched down towards the ground for a split second, the games system recognised the Pre-Motion and began to active the Sword Skill. The suit of armour tried to regain its balance as I kicked my feet off the stone floor and ran towards the enemy who was unable to defend itself, I held my sword towards my left side of my body as it continued to glow. The games system enables that an attack from a Sword Skill will hit the target, in return the game takes control of the player until the Sword Skill finishes. The blade cut through the chest plate of the armour slicing the spirit inside and dealing a large amount of damage, it screamed out in pain as it tried to turn around and strike back. It was no use, I had already run past it and out of its striking range.

The Sword Skill ' Arc Buckler' is a powerful 2 strike attack that rushes the player past their target striking them once and then a second time once they're behind the target. It's commonly used to defeat enemies with shields or tough armour.

I stopped running and jumped backwards into the air, the system was still controlling me since my 2 hit combo hadn't finished yet. I turned around in mid air as a girl with short brown hair wearing a blue sleeveless combat dress and wielding a sword and shield charged towards the back of the unsuspecting ghost in armour. This was a move that we had practiced many times before, we had timed attacks in between combos that took time to prepare so we could make sure the enemy can't dodge at the last second leaving us vulnerable after our attack.

She dug her sword into the _Demonic__Armour's _back, it let out a deafening shriek while turning around forcing her sword out of its back, it begun to attack her with its sword. She held up her shield just before getting struck, the sword bounced off her shield knocking the ghost in armour back a step or two. The girl raised her sword as the ghost in armour wobbled backwards, once it found its feet it started to shriek again but it sounded differently this time, it was one of its special skills it could use when its hit points were low. 'Hunted Shriek', the ability to call another _Demonic__Armour _and have it enter the fight. This was the last thing we needed, especially with both our hit points under 50 percent. If we had to fight another one of these things at this level we'd have no choice but to retreat. The girl instantly covered her ears with her hands to block out the noise, she had been stunned from the skill.

I was now directly above the _Demonic Armour _as it used 'Haunted Shriek', my sword was raised above my head and I started to swing it in a downwards motion as I landed directly behind the giant suit of armour.

"Hyaaa!"

In one swift motion my sword cut straight through the middle of its armour from head to toe digging into it as I landed crouching on the ground behind it, the call for reinforcements stopped instantly after it was struck, luckily I had struck it just before it could finish it's skill. It twitched a little as it began to glow blight blue and exploded in a ray of pixels followed by the sound of breaking glass, the monster had been destroyed.

My sword clashed with the cold stone floor as I fell down to my hands and knees exhausted, experience and item drops displayed on a screen in front of my eyes as a reward for defeating the monster. Out of breath I wiped my forehead with my sleeve as I hung my head back and closed my eyes. I was breathing in and out heavily as I heard footsteps coming towards me, I opened my eyes and lowered my head a little.

"Wow that was a hard one wasn't it?" I said as I turned my head to face her.

The girl was standing beside me with a massive grin on her face, I smiled back at her and extended my hand to her, she took it and pulled me back up to my feet. I reached down and picked up my two handed long sword from the ground and returned it to the sheath on my back, it was crimson red the same colour as my sword.

I looked at the girl as she placed her sword and shield on her back as well, she sighed slightly while placing her hands on her hips and started pouting at me. I just knew I was in for a mouthful.

"It wouldn't have been so hard if you had taken the initiative to switch with me rather than taking it on by yourself." She said in a bossy tone.

I know she doesn't like it when I don't include her in fights but sometimes I feel like I'm a solo player again and forget to rely on her, it's a habit that has had its hold on me for awhile now since the start of this game. Seeing that this isn't ordinary massively multiplayer online game (MMO), I should probably get out of that habit if I didn't want to die anytime soon.

"I was worried that something had happened since you never returned, but you were just too busy caught up with fighting your way around this stupid dungeon. You should have left with me an hour ago."

She sounded angry and annoyed, she had the right to be.

I scratched the back of my head with my hand, my long dark brown hair stayed still as I scratched it. I wouldn't be able to mess my hair up even if I tried since in the game your hair would never grow or change, and I wasn't too crazy about the length either. It wasn't what most would consider long but it was long for a boy.

"You're right Epona, I should have stopped and left when you did." I agreed with her.

Epona had always been with me ever since we found ourselves trapped here. No that's not right, maybe it was just a little while after we found out, It was definitely before we joined the same guild. She seemed to think of me as an annoying big brother who she always had to correct, most of time it was helpless fun but when I ignore her she would instantly turn on me and make me feel guilty. I was starting to think right now might be one of those times, but I know deep down she's just terrified knowing any second could be our last, this was just her way of dealing with it.

Epona lowered her hands from her hips and walked up to me, she started to poke my chest repeatedly with her left index finger. She scrunched up her nose and lowered her brow as she started to stare me down, I stepped back as she poked me. I was a bit worried, she looked furious at me.

"I know I'm right, I don't need you to tell me that." She said angrily.

She stopped poking me as she tugged on my white and grey coat and pushed me away from her, I stepped back a little shocked as I noticed her eyes start to water. Before she shed any tears she spun around turning away from me, her pale blue dress blew upwards in the breeze revealing her short leggings that were usually hidden from the back, she started to walk away with her fists clenched, she was angry. I sighed as I lowered my head towards the floor and looked at my black and green pants and pure black boots. I shouldn't have made her worry, I raised my head again and watched her walk away from me.

"Don't you want to take a break now?"I asked still out of breath.

She continued walking down the haunted looking stone corridor completely ignoring me, to be honest I didn't blame her. It was not until she took a few more steps that she started talking again.

"We're not taking a break yet. The last monster was strong so we must be near the boss room." She shouted back at me continuing to look forward.

I was amazed that she still wanted to continue, she had complained that we should go back am hour ago because it was late, it must have been because she didn't like the idea of me going solo or she just wanted to kill something to let off some steam. I diverted my attention to the clock at the bottom right hand side of my eyes, it was almost 7PM. It was very late...for us, we still needed to find an inn to stay tonight which was no easy task at this time. I sighed and started running after Epona, she seemed to walk a little faster once she heard me coming.

"Once we get to the boss room we're heading out for the night." She said as I caught up to her.

She looked at me and smiled, I smiled back, she seemed to have calmed down a bit despite being angry at me just before. It wasn't that I didn't want her to fight alongside me, it was if we were both in a fight and I wasn't able to protect her...the thought of that was enough to make me uneasy.

"What you're too scared to face the boss right away?" I said back still smiling.

I was only joking with her to get that thought off my mind but I could tell by the look in her eyes she thought I was serious. Of course I wouldn't risk our lives to fight the boss right there and then, it would be suicide, there was no point to do anything so unnecessary. Mapping out the location to the boss room was our only goal tonight and it will help the other players at the front line when it was time to clear this floor, if we were able to get the whole dungeon floor mapped out now that would save time lots of lives later on when other players hunt this area.

This was the 65th floor, it had almost been 2 years since the game had started. The date was July 1st 2024, this game started November 6th 2022. A date that no one in this world or the real world would forget easily, it's the day of the incident that changed the lives of the ten thousand players who logged into Sword Art Online (SAO). We were all trapped within the game with no way of getting out other than clearing all 100 floors thus completing the game, a suicide mission if you ask me.

There were two things we could do in this game, wait for someone else to clear all 100 floors and complete the game or clear it ourselves, we picked the latter option. More than three thousand players had already died, and when you died in the game you died in real life. That being said there was no way to revive or respawn players in the game, we only had one life which was incredibly unfair to everyone playing since it's impossible not to die in an MMO which meant sooner or later even the best players will die.

I walked next to Epona as I raised my hand to place it on her shoulder, I pulled her closer to me and we walked down the stone corridor side by side.

"I won't let anything happen to you, you know that right." I said trying to calm her but I was actually trying to calm myself.

She rested her head on my shoulder while we walked, I felt a little at ease knowing that she was by my side even though she only relied on me to survive. That's what she said at least, I still think that she felt safe with me. I suddenly stopped walking as I noticed a giant door up ahead at the end of the stone corridor, it had to be about five times my size, maybe even more, it was rectangular and had circular markings from top to bottom. Epona stopped as l did but only to look back at me confused.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

I swallowed nervously as we stopped walking, I pointed straight ahead and stared at the door from a distance. Epona spun around noticing the it as well, she stood deadly still as I continued to hold onto her shoulder. This was it, the boss room. It took a second to sink in as we continued to walk until we were right up to the door, both of us were hesitant about opening it and seeing what was inside although it was incredibly tempting to just swing that door open and get the first glance at the boss.

Somehow Epona knew that I was tempted to open the door because she held my sleeve tightly tugging it as she leant in even closer to me, her body pressed against mine.

"Hey let's head back Alm. We don't need to go further than this."

I nodded in response as I took out a teleportation crystal from my inventory, Epona did the same. We raised the crystals above our heads and disappeared from the dungeon in a ray of bright blue light teleporting ourselves back to the main town on the 65th floor, Dihala.

We had both worked too hard today, it was time for a break. We had seen firsthand players dying because they think they can do more than what they're really capable of, from this we've learnt that when your performance begins to drop it's best to call it quits until you're rested and ready to go again. That last battle was definitely proof that I wasn't up for anymore today.

That's right, there had been far too many pointless deaths up until now. Not a day went by when I didn't think if I had done things differently could they all still be alive, it didn't matter though. I wasn't about to make the same mistakes again and leave Epona alone in this god awful place. Not again, I won't leave her again.

**Authors Notes: Well this chapter is more of a prologue than an actual chapter. So this story will be OC based with the main character from Sword Art Online making appearances from time to time, everyone's bound to run into each other once or twice since it's an MMO. Just one thing I'm wondering does everyone prefer longer or shorter chapters? Because this was around 3000 words so it's kind of on the short side. Another thing I'd like to ask is for any OC's you might want to include in the story, if you'd like to add one please put the info in the comments/review section or PM them to me. **

**Finally all I can ask is that if you liked this please follow, favourite and review or one/two of the three, it's your choice but I think I could use the feedback. Thank you for taking the time to read this and I'll post more chapters soon.**


	2. Stronger Together

**Authors notes: Once again first fanfic, not sure if it's good or not but I'll continue trying to improve. So this chapter is technically where the story of Alm and Epona starts since the last chapter was more of a prologue/introduction to the two main characters.**

8 months ago

Silence filled the air as the clam breeze brushed the mountain side just beyond the outskirts of the nearby town, Hington, the main town on the 37th floor. My foot inched forward through the thick grass, with a grunt I lunged with both hand grasping the hilt of my two handed silver great sword, it clashed with another smaller sword and bounced off eager to strike again.

I flung back eyeing the young girl I had just clashed swords with, Yuria, she was nearly at her limit, so was I. We had been fighting for around twenty minutes without stopping for a break, she was a talented swordsman, swordswoman? Being level 54 while she was only level 50 I was genially surprised that she could keep up with my attack, let alone match my strength.

Yuria breathed in heavily after being knocked back from the last attack. She had short messy blonde hair, and wore a short chainmail dress which was brown. Her weapon of choice was a single handed long sword with no shield, it was an odd choice of weapon, but she had proved in this fight and many before that she didn't need the extra protection or strength a shield or two handed sword could provide. She steadied her breath and connected her eyes with mine, I could tell she was getting ready for an attack, her red eyes looked fierce in the sunlight staring me down as she pulled her sword slowly behind her.

I sighed as I studied her posture, the way she moved suggested she was about to use a Sword Skill, but who in their right mind would use a Sword Skill on another player? It just seemed like a terrible idea especially if the opposing player could identify how to counter the attack. I waited patiently for her sword to light up and accept her Sword Skill command, after that I could counter whatever came my way since I already knew the main sword skills she liked to use.

Yuria kicked her feet off the ground sprinting towards where I was standing without activating a Sword Skill, my eyes widened as I stepped back to brace myself from the oncoming attack, she used that motion to fool me, and surprisingly enough it worked.

"Kyyyyha!" Yuria screamed as her blade collided with mine.

Her attack was strong but I didn't budge more than a centimetre, I grunted and grinded my teeth as she continued to press down on my blade hoping that I'd give and let her take the advantage, the look in her eye told me she wasn't going to let up without a fight. I eyed my HP gauge, it was a little above 60 percent while hers was just border lining 50, if she takes one more hit she would lose the duel, that's why she wasn't giving up this clash, if she loses this she'll be open for an attack.

With our swords still pressed against each other we started to circle around the blades to try find an opening in the others defence, I locked eyes with her trying to pinpoint the moment she loses concentration, I could tell she was doing the same with me. It would only take a glance away from the others eyes to decide the winner of the duel, I could almost grantee she wouldn't accept another loss to me.

It couldn't have been more than five seconds after we locked eyes when I noticed her eyes sink down to the ground, this was my chance. I yelled as I put all my strength behind my strike and forced her sword to bounce back, her eyes widened as she was pushed back from the blow, she fell back first on the thick grass as her HP snuck to 50 percent and on cue the Duel Winner flag appeared between the two of us.

I took in a deep breath in as I put my sword away in the sheath on my back and let out a loud sigh of satisfaction.

"That was a nice attack at the end Yuria, you've improved a bit."

Yuria lifted her head off the grass and smiled towards me. "Hehe, I thought I'd win with that attack. Looks like I've got a long way to go."

She lifted herself off the ground and placed her sword back in its sheath, we had both already recovered our stamina from the fight, it only took a moment or two to catch our breath.

Grass started to rustle and the sound of footsteps followed a few meters to my left, I turned around to see Epona and the others walking up the hill of the mountain, they were returning from town with supplies, just in time too since we just finished. Epona smiled and waved as she ran towards us.

"Alm, Yuria! Who won the duel?"

"Alm obviously, he's in a totally different league than me." Yuria sighed as Epona approached her, her tone suddenly changed as Epona stood next to her. "But I got real close this time, I had him on the ropes."

"Really? That's impressive." Epona said taking hold of Yuria's hands.

I turned away from the two girls while eyeing them from the corner of my vision as three young boys around my age walked up to me, Trey, Lendo and Sapph. Trey and Sapph on the middle and left side had red and grey full chainmail body armour while the Lendo on the right had a white coat and leather pants, all three boys had short neat dark hair and looked alike, they were brothers in this game and real life, but I couldn't tell which one was older to save myself and it would have been rude to ask.

"What happened to going easy today?" Trey, the brother in red chainmail asked walking up to me.

He raised his hand above his head, in return I raised mine, we shared a high-five and smiled at each other.

"I only promised to go easy if she needed it." I replied as I looked back at Epona and Yukia. "Yukia got the jump on me today, she's improving Trey don't worry."

Trey sort of had a thing for Yukia, I wasn't sure if it was because she was around his age or that she actually said yes to him when he invited her to the guild, it honestly didn't matter to me though, Trey would hit on any girl if she gave him a smile.

All of us had been together since the 12th floor, expect Epona, I'd been with her since the 2nd floor after finding out she was only level 8 in a level 13 zone. We had quickly joined the guild after banding together with Trey and the others to take down the Floor Boss with the rest of the front liners, Stronger Together, our guild name. It wasn't exactly original but it was true, especially for Epona who was the weakest in our small guild, she relied on our support most of all, followed closely by Mahi.

I looked back at Trey and his brothers, something didn't feel right for some reason, I pondered this feeling I had by staring at the brothers for a few seconds, I could tell by the looks on their faces that they weren't comfortable with me staring at them. I snapped out of my blank stare and finally realised the final member of our guild wasn't among us, Mahi wasn't with them, she had gone with them to pick up supplies but for some reason wasn't with them when they came back.

"Hey, Mahi went with to the town right? But it doesn't look like she came back."

"Ah, that's right." Sapph said as he pointed towards the riverside down the bottom of the mountain. "She said she was going to go over there for a bit, told us to go on without her."

That sounded about right, Mahi always seemed to be doing some kind of exploring in almost every area we happened to pass. She would sometimes leave for hours on end just to explore, my guess it was to see what else this virtual reality death trap had to offer other than senseless death and quests, but no one really knew her reason for doing so. I nodded and waved as Sapph and his brothers as I started to walk towards the riverside, looking back at them I noticed they returned the wave as I got further down the mountain.

I found Mahi sitting along the riverside after walking around the rocky bank for a minute or two, she had picked an area that was surrounded by trees that blocked out the sun. The gaps within the trees projected little rays of light which focused on Mahi's sliver white hair which sparkled from the sunlight, a truly time stopping sight if I'd ever seen one. A small smile came across my face while walking towards her, as I got closer I noticed she had unequipped her knee high boots and had her legs in the water, her green sleeveless combat dress was also unequipped and replaced with an almost pure white tank top that cut off before her stomach, it was rare to see her out of her usual gear.

Mahi spun her head around to face me, she must have heard my boots scrape against the gravel as I approached her. She looked a little surprised to see me but that look lasted less than a second which was followed by a giant smile and small reddish blush that lightened up her cheeks.

"Hey there." I said slowly sitting down beside her.

"Hey you, I thought you were having a duel with Yuria."

"We just finished when the others came back with our supplies." I turned to face her and tried to fight with my eyes that tried to look at her exposed skin, too embarrassed to look I turned away hoping my face hadn't gone red. "A-anyway, why are you out here?"

"Ah, I just wanted to put my legs in the river, it feels so good. The water rushing past your legs is such an amazing feeling." She always sounded ecstatic when she talked about the virtual worlds features.

"Is that so."

"Did you come here to join me?" I couldn't see since I was facing away from her now but I could tell she had a sneaky grin on her face, she knew I was embarrassed seeing her. "No, something tells me you had something else in mind."

I spun around as quick as possible and shook my head at her. "What? No, what are you saying?"

She put her hands to her mouth and giggled a little, it quickly turned into an uncontrollable laugh as she removed her hand from her mouth and grabbed her stomach, with that the awkward embarrassment I'd felt just moments ago swept away just from the look on her face. I couldn't help but laugh back at her, I wasn't even sure why I was laughing, it just happened. I must have laughed with her for about ten seconds until we finally stopped, she pulled her legs out of the water and stood up while opening the main menu to reequipped her usual attire.

"Shall we go then?" She asked holding her hand out to me on the ground.

"Sure." I smiled as I reached out and took her hand and she started pulling me up. "I'm guessing you enjoyed rivers like this in the real world too."

It was only for a split second but as soon as I mentioned the real world Mahi's face went blank, as if she had seen a ghost or something of the sort. My eyes widened surprised as she let go of my hand, I lost my balance and fell back onto the ground, it hurt a little, when I looked back up at Mahi she was smiling like her usual self, I questioned if she had just lost her grip or let go because of what I said, I couldn't tell.

"Ah I'm sorry Alm, I must have spaced out for a second."

"It's fine." I said picking myself off the ground. "No harm done." I continued as we started to walk back together.

While walking with Mahi I couldn't help thinking about that brief moment when her face turned lifeless, it was possible it may have just been my imagination, but I couldn't be sure. I must have been thinking about it for some time because before I knew it we had already reached the rest of the guild atop the side of the mountain where I had left them, the three brothers and Yuria where laying down in the thick grass. Epona on the other hand had climbed a nearby tree and was waving our way, she jumped out of the tree and ran towards us, her arms open wide, I could tell she was going to give Mahi a hug since she was like a big sister to her.

I was wrong.

"Alm!" Epona roared as she tackled me to the ground.

I grunted out in pain as I closed my eyes and landed back first on the grassy plain with the 14 year old latched around my chest, I groaned on the ground as I opened my eyes to see Mahi above me looking almost displeased with the current situation, I looked at Epona who was still holding me tightly for some reason.

"I looked away for a second and the next thing I knew you were gone." Epona said as she tightened her grip around my body, it felt like I was going to break, a boa constrictors strength couldn't compare to Eponas right now. " Sapph and Trey told me you were talking about leaving the guild, but I knew you'd be back. And you came back like I knew you would!"

Now it all made sense, Sapph and Trey played a joke on Epona, and like usual she fell for it, she was far too gullible, that or she was just naturally trusting. I struggled to break free of her grip but that only made her hold me tighter, I kicked my legs uncontrollably and open my mouth wide while trying not to scream with no success, I screamed out in pain as she got tighter and tighter, I felt like this might deplete the 60 percent of health I had left.

"Epona-I'm glad you were worried about me, but-you're breaking me."

She instantly let go, I took in five deep breaths of air, I could breathe again. She looked at me curiously like she didn't understand what she had just done, it took a few seconds but her face finally went bright red as soon as she noticed she was sitting on top on me. She quickly jumped to her feet and got of me, she looked down at me looking like she was about to apologise but didn't actually say it, I pulled my hands towards my mouth as I coughed from the sudden burst of air in my lungs, I was free.

"Um, are you okay Alm?" Mahi asked as I rose to my feet.

"I'm fine, it'll take more than that to kill me." I said jokingly, I didn't think either of them appreciated the joke though, joking about death in this game wasn't really a laughing matter.

Right before I could say something that might cool the air Lendo quickly sat up, he was covered in strands of grass that managed to stick to him while laying down, I noticed him move right away and redirected my attention towards him. Trey raised his arms above his head as he yawned and sat up next to his brother, he looked at him confused, almost like he'd been asleep for a week and forgot where he was.

"What's going on Mr. Guild Leader?" Trey asked still have asleep.

"I just got a message from Asuna of the Knight of the Blood." Lendo said looking towards all of us, his guild members. "The boss meeting is going to begin soon."

I ginned with anticipation, we'd finally get to take down yet another boss and make it to Floor 38, one more step closer to getting out of this virtual hell. The news brought Trey to his feet as he placed his hands on his hips and pouted at his brother.

"Why did you get a message from the beautiful Asuna Flash!?" He obviously didn't care about a certain boss meeting. "Heathcliff has been sending out messages to the front line guilds since the 26th floor, so why is Asuna the one sending you the message?"

"I don't know, maybe she's taking up command in the next boss raid, so she's messaging the guild leaders."

Trey stomped on the ground ferociously while he waved his hands in the air. "AHHH, I so should have been the guild leader!" He yelled hysterically in a high pitched voice.

Lendo looked back at Trey almost in disbelieve, he couldn't understand why he was getting so worked up for. "It's just a message about the next boss fight."

I chuckled to myself a bit as I looked over to Mahi, she was looking down towards the ground, her eye lids were lowered and an uncomfortable frown had appeared on her face, my smile instantly disappeared after seeing her. This wasn't the first time I had seen her look like this, there were other times right before the boss battles began, although thinking back she had hardly joined any raids on the boss room, maybe she wasn't good enough to fight a boss even though she was around the same level as the rest of the front liners.

Twenty minutes had past and we, as well as the rest of the front line guilds had arrived within the town square for the boss meeting, the square was full of chatter making it difficult to hear anyone in the crowd let alone the person next to you, I definitely couldn't make out what Epona was yelling about beside me. Among the sea of faces in the crowd there were a few I recognised from previous boss raids, one of the more recognisable faces was Kirito, the Beater who solos the front lines.

It was rather surprising to see him here since he hadn't come to the last two raids, he was further away from where I was sitting but I could see that his eyes were glazed over, almost like he couldn't care less about the meeting. A man in a red bandana I had seen a few times walked up to him and started talking, I couldn't hear what he was saying but the Beater ignored him and walked away, good riddance, Beaters don't deserve to be here.

The square suddenly became as silent as a graveyard as soon as Asuna made her way to the centre of the square, her long orange hair was definitely a show stopper, she stood upon a small platform and looked upon the different guild members who had gathered in the square. I leaned forward to take a look at Trey who was sitting just in front of me, he was as I expected, staring at Asuna the Flash intensely, I had a suspicion that some or most of the other guys were doing the same, pathetic really. She took in a deep breath and clapped her hands twice to get everyone's attention, not that it was needed since all eyes were already upon her.

"Everyone, thank you for coming today on such short notice."

I couldn't be sure just from hearing her welcome to everyone here but it sounded like she was nervous talking to such a large crowd.

"Three hours ago the Knight of the Blood located the boss room and attempted to learn its fighting patterns." Her following statement was followed with chatter amongst the crowd, she had to clap her hands twice more to regain everyone's attention. "We have learnt what we hope to be most of the bosses movements, and have devised a plan for the raid which will commence in two days from now." She took in a deep breath and looked to the crowd. "I will be the commander for this raid."

Cheers and whistles erupted from everyone present, I clenched my fist tightly as a giant grin raised across my face, at last I'll get another chance for the last attack bonus, I couldn't stop thinking about getting the last attack on the boss, I was lost in thought so I didn't hear anything else Asuna said after that. I looked towards Mahi sitting to the left of me, my eyes widened, she had the same saddened look on her face again, I couldn't think of any reason why she should be sad, we were one step closer to returning to the real world and yet she looked so sad for some reason. I had no idea why.

The day of the raid came quickly, the date was October 19th 2023, it was 9:45 AM, the raid was set to begin at 10AM sharp. Today we would take another step closer to concurring the floating castle Aincrad, we were just more than a third of the way to the 100th floor and we where completing floors faster each day, it wouldn't take long until we'd reach the top and free ourselves from this visual prison.

We were right outside the dungeon, the many different guilds lead by Asuna and the Knight of the Blood walked through the doors first, the lifeless grass outside the gaping marble stone entrance seemed as intimidating as ever. Our guild, Stronger Together, was near the rear of the raid group, Epona was the first of us that went inside the dungeon the others followed shortly after, this would be our third time walking into this dungeon. I was the second last to enter the dungeon, I looked behind me to see Mahi was hesitant about entering, she looked scared, I started to walk back outside and started talking with her.

"Mahi, is something wrong?"

She looked at me with uneasy eyes. "I'm sorry, I think I'm going to sit this one out." Her left hand grasped her right arm and shook slightly as she talked. "I'm not up for it. I'm afraid."

It was understandable to be afraid going into a boss raid, but with the amount of people all relying on each other's strength there was a high chance of survival, although in earlier raids there were two or three that had died between the 31st and 33rd floor so our success rate wasn't perfect.

I placed my hand of her shoulder. "If you want to sit this one out it's fine. Everyone going into this battle is afraid of the what might happen, but they still fight because they _want_ to live." She stared into my eyes with tears rolling down her face. "I'll see you after I come back from the boss fight."

I turned around to face the dungeon again and walked through the marble stone entrance, I wasn't sure if Mahi have walked away as soon as I left or stayed watching until I disappeared from sight, either way I waved until I thought I was out of sight kicking up the dirt inside the cave like structure, hoping that she had waved back.

When we finally reached the boss room everyone rested in front of the iron doors that were about the size of ten players put together, they all filled up on health potions to restore their strength after fighting hordes of monsters in the gloomy labyrinth to get here. As I took in a few deep breaths and looked out into the crowd I noticed the dark messy hair of the Beater Kirito, he had joined the raid after all, but there was no way he was going to get the last attack bonus item this time, I was going to be the one to get it.

Asuna who was at the front of the group rose to her feet, as soon as she did everyone else who was resting picked themselves off the ground too and awaited her final words before the boss raid started.

"Everyone, I hope you're all prepared for this." She shouted so everyone could hear.

I could hear eager grunts from a few players near me, they were obviously ready to challenge the boss, I was the same. I pulled out my two handed silver sword from its sheath, it was a rare drop that I had received from a horde of goblins on floor 35, The Orcbane, the weapon I entrusted my life with. I clenched the hilt of my sword tightly, I couldn't have been more prepared for this fight, my heart was racing in my virtual body, I was ready.

"Alright." Asuna said as she turned around and pushed the iron doors open, they opened with a creek that echoed down the narrow hallway. She pulled her rapier out of its sheath and pointed it inside the room. "Everyone, Advance!"

Yells and battle cries of all the players filled the silent room as everyone charged into the boss room, I ran beside Epona and Lendo shouting at the top of my lungs as we ran through the doors to the dark room, Eponas high pitched squeal almost made me laugh, it didn't sound threatening at all.

Light filled the room as the final person in the raid group entered, a giant figure stood before us, it looked like a _Granite Elemental_ found on the 27th floor, only bigger, it must have been as tall as five players. It was a little different from the original design though, it had a mixture of stone and iron which crafted its body, it also wielded a one handed axe in its right hand, its name was _Iron, the Element Lord_ and it had four health bars like the bosses before it.

The stone and iron giant didn't seem to intimidate anyone in the raid group, even though it towered over us, we were all prepared thanks to the boss meeting the other day. I could see Asuna up the front of the pack, she had raised her rapier yet again, everyone patiently waited on her orders.

"Attack!" She yelled as everyone charged past her towards the boss.

This was it, the 37th boss raid had begun.

**Authors notes: I wanted to leave the boss fight out of this chapter because there is a lot I want to include within the fight. Just to point out this takes place when Kirito is still blaming himself for Sachi and the guilds death. This chapter also introduced the other members of Alm and Eponas guild, Lendo, Mahi, Sapph, Trey and Yuria. More OC's.**

**You don't have to but if you liked it then please like, follow and favourite. If you don't want to then at least give feedback since that's most important and will help me improve. Thank you for taking the time to read this, and look forward to the boss fight. **


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